The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress, TUC, rose from an emergency National Executive Councils meeting, resolving to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike on Wednesday should the federal government fails to reverse the pump price of petrol from N145 to N86.50 per litre by Tuesday midnight.
In a communiqué jointly signed by NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba and TUC President, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama, they noted that Buhari’s government has obsession for protecting product marketers at the expense of the Nigerian public.
Consequently, the labour movement advised Nigerians to stock sufficient food items that will last for a while “for the prosecution of the current struggle against neo-liberal agenda in Nigeria.”
The emergency meeting which debated extensively the implications of government’s unilateral increase in prices of petroleum products, also expressed concern about government’s neo-liberal policies which it considered a betrayal of its electioneering promises and observed as follows:
“During the electioneering campaign last year, the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, had promised that, if elected president, he would not remove fuel subsidy if there was any at all;
“After his election, President Muhammadu Buhari had maintained that there was no subsidy in the petroleum product price regime and that even if there was, he did not see how its removal would be beneficial to the ordinary Nigerian, noting that the slightest product price adjustment often leads to inflationary spiral and unimaginable suffering for the people;
“On January 18, 2016, the government further allayed the fears of the Nigerian people by reducing the pump price of PMS to N86:50, explaining that the reduction was in furtherance of the implementation of the revised component of the Petroleum Products Pricing for PMS and kerosene;
“The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu had been speaking from both sides of his mouth. Whereas last year, he had strongly canvassed for the removal of “subsidy” in defiance of President Buhari, about a month ago, he claimed the subsidy had been removed through his ingenuity and that Nigeria was saving $1billion from this process;
“Organized Labour wondered what has informed government’s sudden and dangerous policy somersault and its desperate attempt to convince the public that Labour was part of the decision that led to this price increase;
“In view of the fact that the board of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), which is statutorily vested with powers to recommend prices, has not been reconstituted, the price variation announced by any officer of the agency or outside the agency is not only ultra vires and illegal, it is a criminal imposition on the citizenry;
“The price hike from N86:50 to N145, representing 67.63% increase, is the height of insensitivity and impunity as there was no previous consultation with stake holders, especially the organized labour, or any justification for this reckless decision other than the fact that government believes it is accountable to no one,” the Unions stated.
The Labour Movement therefore, urged the federal government to:
Revert to the old price regime in order to reduce the suffering of the people and to consider this singular act of mindless pump price increase as a betrayal of trust;
Revert to the pre-45 percent electricity tariff increase, make meters available to consumers and stop estimated billing;
Reconstitute the boards of PPPRA and NNPC without further delay and give them their statutory right to function alongside DPR in order to deepen the process of consultation, checks and balances in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry;
Intensify the prosecution of all those involved in subsidy scams with a view to recovery and sanctioning of the culpable;
Put in place enhanced local refining capacity within a specified period in place of endless importation as an enduring solution to the perennial problem of scarcity;
Reverse the entire deregulation and privatization process which foists on the nation, private individuals as drivers of the economy in contravention of the constitutional provision that says government shall be the driver of the economy and engage the organised labour in the process of negotiation on key policy issues;
Wean itself from the overbearing influence of the neo-liberal elements in its fold who have not only staged a coup but are determined to make this government collapse even before the end of its four-year tenure;
Uphold its electioneering promises to Nigerians instead of subjecting them to the vagaries of slavish policies such as full devaluation of the naira and total removal of subsidy as enunciated by the IMF and its agents in the system.
However, the Unions stated unequivocally that in the event government fails to accede to their demands on or before 12 midnight on Tuesday, May17, 2016, the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress and their civil society allies resolve to commence the following actions with effect from Wednesday, May 18, 2016;
- Mobilize to the streets across the country, ordinary and helpless Nigerians to whom they owe the duty of protection;
- Shut down all Banks, Sea and Airports, Government and private offices as well as Markets.
- Commence indefinite nationwide strike action.
- Fight/resist the machinations and cruelties of the neo-liberal forces in the government as part of the process of saving the government from itself and the generality of Nigerians from slavery.
